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Here where I live in Poland there is a intense renewal of the public expression of love and devotion to this great Polish religious figure, one of the rare world famous Polish historic beings apart from Fryderyk Chopin, Ignacy Paderewski, Madame Curie and possibly General Sikorski. Large television screens have been set up in squares in the cities throughout the country where people have come together to watch the unprecedented simultaneous canonization of these two popes in Rome, Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. This unique ceremony performed by the equally unprecedented presence of two living Popes, Pope Francis and the Emeritus Pope Benedict.

Here in Warsaw instead of a number of cliched, no doubt platidudinous observations on my part after standing in the misty damp among crowds of an early spring morning, I will let Pope Francis speak in superior words of great simplicity pregnant with meaning which expresses the predominant feeling among the crowds in Pilsudski Square. Pa…

Many Australians would find it surprising perhaps to discover that an Anzac Day Service has taken place here in Warsaw for some years. It is normally held in Pilsudski Square (Plac Pilsudskiego) at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at 11.00am.

I have always felt that the broad notion of 'allies betrayed' has bound Poles, Australians and New Zealanders together in spirit however complex and many-sided the actual historical truth. The three nationalities, allies in war but apparently so different, share a love of risk, a healthy disdain for authority, a sense of comradeship and committed emotional sentiment in many campaigns of war which required formidable heroism against impossible odds. In fact during World War II Poles, Australians and New Zealanders fought side by side at the appalling Battle of Monte Cassino. The Polish Independent Carpathian Rifle Brigade fought alongside Australian troops at the Siege of Tobruk. Th…

Australian author and classical musician.
He seriously studied the piano and harpsichord in London for many years.
His piano teacher was Eileen Ralf, a former professor at the Royal Academy of Music and the inspiring teacher of the great Australian pianist Geoffrey Tozer.
His harpsichord teacher was Maria Boxall, editor of the keyboard works of the English Baroque composer and organist John Blow as well as a renowned Harpsichord Method.
He yearns for the South Pacific islands but through a number of unlikely events and coincidences beached up on the cold shores of the Baltic.